1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a fuel blended with alcohol for use in a diesel engine.
2. Description of the Prior Art
A keen realization of the inevitable exhaustion of oil resources in the future has directed public attention to alcohols as a substituent fuel. A study is pursued on the use of a petroleum fuel blended with alcohol for the operation of a diesel engine. In order for a blend of a petroleum fuel such as gas oil or heavy oil with alcohol to be effectively used in the diesel engine, this blend fuel is desired to retain its behavior as a fuel stably for a long time. The blend, therefore, is required to form a dissolved fuel of the petroleum fuel in the alcohol.
Incidentally, the alcohol and the petroleum fuel such as gas oil or heavy oil exhibit poor miscibility to each other. When the two components are mixed, the resultant mixture is liable to phase separation. It is, therefore, difficult to obtain a stable blend fuel by mixing these two components.
It has been customary, therefore, to obtain a blend fuel containing about 20% by volume of ethanol by the additional incorporation therein of 5 to 10% of another alcohol like propanol as a mutual solvent.
Propanol or some other similar alcohol, however, is too expensive to be advantageously adopted as the mutual solvent for the alcohol and the petroleum fuel which are blended to produce a blend fuel economically usable in the diesel engine. Thus, the conventional method for the preparation of the blended fuel has not proved to be quite feasible.